Nat Weiss, Beatles Associate and Artist Lawyer, Dies

Nat Weiss, a music-business lawyer who ran the Beatles' affairs in the U.S., died on July 31. Neither his age nor the cause of death was disclosed.

The news comes via the Examiner, but the news was announced by singer-songwriter Steve Forbert, who had a No. 11 hit in 1980 with 'Romeo's Tune.' Forbert wrote the following on his Facebook page, which he posted with the above picture:

Nathan M. Weiss passed away Wednesday night in New York City.

Nat Weiss was indisputably one of the all-time greats of the real music business -- a person whom one would consider themselves very lucky to have known and very lucky to have worked with. He was the smartest person I've ever met and certainly one of the strongest. I'm eternally grateful to him.

Nat, along with Coconut Management's Danny Fields and the late Linda Stein, gave me my start with 'Alive on Arrival,' which I recorded for his label, Nemperor Records.

For the last couple of years, due to severe knee and then back problems, he wasn't able to get out and about, and so has been missed, in that sense, by many people for a while now. (Mark Lewisohn, renowned Beatle authority, was able to interview him extensively about a year and a half ago.)

I would expect there'll be a comprehensive article on him in tomorrow's Sunday Times.

This photo (taken by Bob Gruen, in the dressing room of the Other End on Bleecker Street, December 1978) is of me and my personal hero. I know I'll be missing his friendship and advice a lot from here on out.

Weiss, a divorce attorney who befriended Beatles manager Brian Epstein in 1964, was brought in by Epstein three years later after the band's relationship with Setlaeb ("Beatles" spelled backward), the group's original merchandising company, ended after accusations of financial impropriety and protracted litigation. From there he began to manage and represent a number of artists, including Forbert, James Taylor, Peter Asher, Miles Davis and the Cyrkle, who had a smash hit in 1966 with the Paul Simon-penned 'Red Rubber Ball.'